Red Sector
Zocalo
The principle business and housing district of the station, Red Sector is the first portion of the station outside of customs that newcomers see. For many,it is the only area they will ever see, as most have no reason to venture anywhere else. With ample housing running from the affordable to the luxurious and dozens of businesses within easy walking distance, Red Sector can
provide everything a visitor to the station might desire, whether he is staying for a day or a year. More people live in Red Sector than anywhere else on the station, with nearly half the station’s population quartered here in residences that range from simple, cheap rooms to posh hotel suites costing up to 4,000 credits per night.
Red Sector is also home to the station’s new Alien Sector, a larger and more integrated facility than the original area in Green Sector. Initially conceived as a way of keeping all requirements for alternate atmospheres in private quarters in a restricted part of the station, the first alien sector was placed in Green Sector for ease of maintenance and configuration, as the station’s life support would already be required to provide for multiple requirements to accommodate the ambassadors and their staff. A range of quarters were originally set aside for the use of aliens who could not survive in standard atmospheres without breather masks or encounter suits, but it was soon felt that this unnecessarily segregated these races from the rest of the station. With additional funding contributed by various alien governments, most from within the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, more quarters throughout Red Sector were refitted to provide sealed alternate atmospheres upon request. The Alien Sector in Green Sector is still in operation, however, and is even requested by some races who enjoy their privacy.
Unlike the original Alien Sector, the facility in Red Sector contains several sizes of quarters, dependent upon the desires (and finances) of the alien. The new Alien Sector boasts easy access to the shops and businesses of Red Sector, as well as to the docking facilities in Blue Sector. With the exception of Yellow Sector, Red Sector is the longest part of the station, though a little more than half its length is taken up by the Garden
Alien Market
As mentioned above, Red Sector is home to the station’s new Alien Sector, a portion of the sector set aside for those aliens who cannot breathe in a human-tolerable atmosphere. The move to create the new alien sector was opposed by Mr Garibaldi, though
he knew it was a lost cause. He also knew where it would lead. With a large portion of one deck given over to atmospheres humans cannot tolerate, it became all too easy for his security patrols to simply skip that area on their way through the sector. Many of the
aliens residing in the Alien Sector have taken advantage of that, setting up a large, impromptu market in the midst of a methane-choked hallway. There are no permanent stores or other establishments in this market, just aliens buying, selling and trading things among themselves. This would not be cause for concern were it not for the things the aliens are buying, selling and trading – restricted and illegal items change hands frequently in the new Alien Sector, making this new alien market one of the best places on the station to come for illicit goods – provided one can enter and do business without suffocating.
Infrastructure
Though it exists primarily as a housing and business district, Red Sector has a vital role to play in the infrastructure of the station as well. At the centre of the sector, like a donut around the Core Shuttle tube, is the station’s vast water reservoir. Despite the many and huge differences between the known races of the galaxy, there is one thing they all have in common – every one must have water to survive. The amount of water may vary, with the Abbai requiring more than the Brakiri, but each must have it.
The water reservoir has a capacity of 1.5 million gallons, though it is never full. With an average of a quarter of a million souls on board the station at any given time, the demand for water runs constantly high.
From the middle of Red Sector, it is pumped throughout the station, used, and cycled through the primary waste management facilities in Brown Sector, then the secondary facilities around the rim of Red Sector, before returning to the central reservoir to begin the process all over again. Surprisingly the station’s waste management systems are extraordinarily efficient, but it is impossible to achieve a 100% recycling rate. Every day, Station loses about 1.5% of its water, which must be replaced. Generally, this is accomplished by cargo ships hauling chunks of water ice from nearby space to the station, where the ice is ground up and fed
directly into the secondary waste management systems of Red Sector.
Business District
The Red Sector Business District runs from Red 7 to Red 28 and comprises a loose collection of hotels, bars and a small number of shops and stores, all serving the main habitation centres of Red Sector.
Charges for hotel rooms typically run between 100 to 600 credits per night, depending on the quality of service
being offered, and even the lower class establishments are reasonably luxurious by the standards of most races. Many
visitors spend just a few days on board and so even these high charges (twice as expensive as a typical on-planet hotel) tend to be more acceptable than those demanded for quarters. In addition, the services provided by the hotels tend to be very good, with all rooms given Comm terminals with access to the Subspace transceiver if required.
Business Licenses
The station, along with virtually every other trading port and colony, demands that a character hold a license if they
wish to conduct business in their environs. A generic business license allows the character to perform commercial
transactions while on board the station. The qualifications for and benefits of, the various levels of license are listed in
the Business License table.
Most business on takes place under the auspices of Class B business licenses. Start-up businesses generally try to come in under one of the other programs rather than pay the monthly renewal fee for a Class A during their first year. Large, multi-system concerns often secure Class C licenses as part of their bid to upgrade to the coveted Class D. Class D licenses require the company to secure diplomatic assistance. This practice makes it easy for the somewhat corrupt or just mildly dishonest among the diplomats on the station to line their pockets. While the license itself does not cost much, the priority access to the Subspace network for business communication can mean literally billions of credits a year.
Running a Business
Running a business on Station is quite easy. All that is required is for the entrepreneur to acquire a business license with the
name of the business and he is ready to go. Of course, in the case of a retail or food establishment, for example, he
will also have to rent space and acquire an inventory. While the diplomatic quarters of the various ambassadors
assigned to the station are legally defined as the sovereign territory of the government that sent them, businesses
owned by aliens aboard are most certainly not defined that way. No matter what the race or citizenship of the business owner, he is expected to abide by all law in conducting his business. Though a comprehensive list of the ins and outs of the law is beyond
the scope of this section, the following represent the major points to which all businesses on station are expected to cleave.
